Taming the Yeah-But Monsters in Your Copy and Your Sales

Your customer has a problem. But good news: you’ve got the solution. It’s an amazing strategy, product or service. You’ve made it the best it can be. And you know it works.

Huzzah! Problem solved… right?

Not so fast.

On the road to the Emerald City that is your customer’s ultimate destination, it’s not all munchkins and earworm songs. There are hostile trees, wicked witches and flying monkeys, all devoted to stopping them, diverting them off their path, lulling them back to sleep or making them turn back.

In your customer’s world there are plenty of reasons why your fantastic solution can’t possibly work. Some of them are external forces like a shortage of time or money. But more insidious are the internal enemies: self-doubt, fear of the unknown, memories of past disappointments and failures, beliefs that the problem is unsolvable because your customer has “tried everything.”

These are the monsters on the road to their success and happiness. They’re what kill the sale before it can happen. They devour your clients’ dreams and bite your business in the butt.

They are the Yeahbuts.

“Yeah, but someone like me couldn’t do it (because I’m too inexperienced, too technophobic, too old, too young, etc. etc.)”
“Yeah, but how is this different that what i’ve already tried?”
“Yeah, but I don’t think it could work in my business.”
“Yeah, but who has the time?”
“Yeah, but how do I know I can trust you?”

And on and on. Now, before you make it your fault, please know that the presence of Yeahbuts has absolutely nothing to do with you or the value of your product or service. Even if you do a great job of demonstrating the value of your product — which is vitally important — the Yeahbuts are still going to rear their heads.

That’s because these monsters are a travelling circus that follow your prospects everywhere. It’s not the first time they’ve made their appearance. They run their act every time an opportunity presents itself, in a sales conversation on the phone or in an offer on a webinar or a sales page.

So what’s a marketer to do?

Be ready. You know the monsters are going to show up. So prepare to kill them, or at least tame them.

How to Tame or Kill The Yeahbuts:

1. Identify all the likely Yeahbuts

What is your prospect likely to worry about? What do they believe about themselves, your industry or life in general that might cause them to doubt their ability to get the result you promise? What risk are they afraid to take? Where do you think they believe they’ll get stuck or face challenges? Write down (or draw a picture!) of absolutely everything you can think of. Bonus points if you go through every component of your product (or every step if it’s a course or a diet, or any kind of process) and uncover the hidden Yeahbuts for each.

2. Brainstorm at least three reasons why and how your product addresses each Yeahbut.

If their Yeahbut is that they don’t have the time to implement your solution, think how you could show that it will actually SAVE them time in the end, how they can find the time by stopping something else they’re doing, and that they can get results with only a small investment of time each day or week. If it’s that they don’t believe in themselves, that they can do it or that it will work in their unique situation, show a few stories of people just like them who, were skeptical or disadvantaged, and got results. If it’s that they’ve tried other things like your product and failed or been disappointed, demonstrate how your solution is different.

When you are a real ninja at this, you can use the Yeahbuts to HELP you sell your product. You can say things in your copy like, “We saw that people just didn’t have the time to implement the solutions that were already out there. So THAT’S WHY (emphasis mine) we designed our XYZ product to be simple, and require only a few minutes a day to get fast results.” (As I talk about in my course, the Copy-to-Cash Machine, “That’s why” is one of the magic phrases that is Kryptonite to the Yeahbuts.)

3. Decide where to deploy your Yeahbut killers:

Objection-buster videos
Create a short video that addresses each Yeahbut and deliver it as content. “I know people think they don’t have time to post on Instagram, so here are my top tips for making the most impact in the least amount of time.”

Bonuses in your product
This is a genius strategy I talk about a lot in my course. Adding bonuses into your product that address the Yeahbuts will help you make more sales. You may already even HAVE the component in your product now; pull it out and spotlight it as a helpful bonus. For example, if accountability and needing support along the way is a Yeahbut for your customers, adding a private Facebook group or other community is a great bonus to highlight in your sales copy.

The FAQ in your sales page / FAQ email
I’m going to do a post all about this, but a secret copywriters usually won’t tell you is that we use the FAQs to address objections — the Yeahbuts — NOT so much to answer real FAQs. Go look at any FAQ on a sales page, now that you’ve read this blog. (I hope I don’t get drummed out of the copywriter club for divulging this.)

The P.S. in your emails
You probably already know that the P.S. is one of the most-read parts of an email. When you’re selling, it’s a good place to remind your readers that you’ve got their biggest Yeahbuts handled.

What NEVER to do with Yeahbuts: Ignore them.

People won’t buy and they won’t tell you why — but I will: the Yeahbuts got ‘em.

2 Comments

Hey Lisa!
You are a breath of fresh air! 🙂
Thanks so much for the download.
I’m just at the point of Facebook advertising to offer my free ebook, which will then lead to a series of emails to my 5 day challenge and then, during the challenge, offer my course. It’s a world-first online course to help menopausal women achieve better bladder control. (it’s taken me forever to get comfy with seeing myself as an expert – and I am, the expert of Dry Swan bladder control!)
Your video couldn’t have come along at a better time.
I missed you on BBRS2017 so went searching for you and I’m glad I did.
All the best
Tess